To all persons to whom these presents shall gome



o l I @with faire gutem fitte.

EDWIN DIEREN-SHAW, OF ASHUELOT, vNEW HAMPSHIRE. l Lettere Patent No. 70,688, dated November 12, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAGHINEFOR FINISHINGYYWOOLLN ULOTB.

dlgs .ttetule referat tu in ttm Etnias 'atmt mit mating .gaat nt tige' aus;

T0 ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME:

Be it known that I, EDWIN BIRKESHAW, of Ashuelot, in the county of Cheshire, and State of New Hampshire, have invented an improved Machine for Finishing Woollen Cloth; and Iy do hereby declare the samey to be fully described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of whiche- Figure 1 is a top view,

Figure 2 a rear elevation, and

Figure 3 a vertical section oi: it.

v In this machine the cloth is subjected to the action of two teasling-cylinders and a rotary shearer. In this respect it does not differ from a machine on which a patent, No. 1,152, was granted in England on the 24th day of December, A. D. 1852, to Messrs. Peyre and Dolques. v

In this latter machine, however, the teasling-,cylinders were arranged with .their axes in a horizontal plane, but in'my improved machine the two teaslingcylinders are disposed so that one'of them shall be directly over the other, and with their axes in or about in one vertcalfplane. By my improved arrangement of thecylinders I am enabled not only to greatly shorten the machine in length, but to bring both cylinders into -a position sothat a. workman or attendant on the machine may stand in front of bothcylinders, so as to'1'eadily.gainv access to the cloth in order to spread it or properly arrange it on them, while it may be subjectedto their. action. I

also employ a series of rollers instead of an endless belt to advance the lowerpart of the cloth, and thereby I prevent the cloth from being pressed or forced laterally out of its path, as it is apt to be by an endless belt, When an endless'belt is used, it, while in motion, advances the cloth, but with the rollers there is no such action,

'ornoadvancement ci' the cloth by them. Each roller being free to revolve on its own axis, the cloth will simply rest on each roller and be drawn across it, the roller revolving withV the cloth, or being revolved by it.

If one roller tends to create any divergence of the cloth from its proper course, the next or some one or more of the rollers will operate to counteract the divergence,'or bring th'ecloth back to its correct alignment or path.

Thus, it will be seen that the operations of the series of rollers are very dill-'erelnt from that of an endless belt,1

and productive of new and useful effects relatively to thecloth.

In the drawings, A denotes the frame of. the machine, B and C its two teasling-cylinders, whose curved surfaces when they are inA use are to be more or less covered with teasles, or'their equivalent. One of the said cylinders is placed over the other, and both of them have a set of feed-rollers, ab, and a set of' guide-rollers, ede'f, arranged in front-of and in other respects with regard to them as shown in the drawings. The said feed-rollers are in front of the upper guide-roller c, the outer` of such feed-rollers being about over the front terminal roller-of the series of fold supporting rollers D D D, &c., arranged in a curve or arch, and underneath the teasling-cylinders, in manner as represented in iig. 3. The cloth E, after passing over the upper of the feed-rollers, descends to and upon the series of rollers D D, ctc., and goes underneath a bridge, F, arranged in front of the machine and over the rollers D D, in manner as shown in iig. 3. Across this bridge a workman or attendant can pass and gain access to the cloth las it runs in contact with the two 'teaslingcylinders. In-this way he 'can stretch or pull it, as may be' necessary to take out any wrinkles or folds, and cause it to properly and evenly touch the cylinders, all of which he cannot do by the patented machine hereinbefore mentioned. The rotary shearing-cylinder F is arranged in rear'of the llower teasling-cylinder, and the case d of'l both of the teaming-cylinders. It is made in the 'ordinary manner, and operates on the cloth as it runs over the edge of a guide-bar, g. The cloth passes to the said guide-bar from around the edge of another guide-bar, 7L, and between it and a rotary cylindrical brush, z', arranged', as showniin the drawings. From thc series of rollers D D, the cloth-E goes to and about guide-rollers l 7c before being subjected to the action of the brush z'. After passingy the Shearer, the cloth is led around and'- between the rollers of another set of feed-rollers, mn, which revolve with the same velocity as that of theI first pair of feed-rollers. From the said feedfrollers m n, the cloth passes down the curved chute o extending underneath the bottom, p, of the case of the teasling-cylinders. The cloth sewed together at its two ends will be drawn through the shearing mechanism and across the two teasling cylinders, and thence up to and' over feed-rollers c I; a, and will fall in folds upon the series of rollers D. -Onedriving and one loose pulley, shown at g r, are fixed on the shaft of the' lower teasling-cylinder. Around another pulley fixed on such shaft,land another such pulley s fixed on the shaft of the upper teasling-cylinder, an endless band, t, runs, the whole beinghto'enable'the two cylinders to be put in revolution by a belt when running on the driving-pulley q. .A train of gears u 'u w :v communicates rotary motion from the lower teasling-cylinder to the larger of the front driving-rollers, the gear u and its shaft being provided with a clutch, y, by which the said gear and shaftmay be engaged or disengaged, as circumstances may require. An endless'band,z, 'going around pulleys a and b', on the shafts of the two larger rollers of the two sets-of feed-rollers, serves to communicate rotary motion to the lower feed-rollers. The rotary brush derives its motion from four pulleys e d ef, and two endless belts g L, arranged as represented in the drawings. The pulleys d and e are {ixedon one shaft, 1I. The pulley f is fastened on the' shaft of the lower teasling-cylinder, and the pulley g is fixed on the brush shaft. The shaft i" has a pulley, c, fixed on it, around which and a pulley, Z', fastened on theshaft of the rotary Shearer, an endless band, m', r'uns, the same. serving to impart rotary motion to the Shearer. 1

I make no claim to the combination of two teasling-cylinders, a shearing apparatus or mechanism, and an endless apron, as they are arranged and applied in one frame as described in the 4specifioadon of the aforementioned English patent.

I claim my improved arrangement of the two teasling-cylinders, the shearing mechanism, and their two sets of feed-rollers, one teasling-cylinder under such arrangement being disposed over the other, as described.

I alsoclaim the combi-nation and arrangement of the series of rollers D D, 85o., with the shearing mechanism, the feed-rollers, and the two teaslng-cylindorsf, arranged in manner as described and represented.

e 'I also claim the combination as well as thearrangement rof the bridgeA F, the series of rollers D D, Sac., the shearing mechanism, the feed-rollers, and the two teasling-cylinders, arranged as described, the said feeding.' cylinders and feed-rollers being provided witha series of guide-rollers arranged with them, yas described, and the rotary shearer-brush and the teaslingscylinders being provided with mechanism for operating them, suba stantially as herein before explained.

EDWIN BIRKENSHW.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, LAUm'rz MLLsai 

